


Revelations

by HuntingDandy (Vintage_lover_who)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Angst, BAMF! Hux, BAMF! Kylo, Fluff the kylux way, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, LOTS of violence, M/M, Post-Canon, Slight Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 05:55:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5993958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vintage_lover_who/pseuds/HuntingDandy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Entry for Kylux February Exchange 2016. Dedicated to @Kat2107</p><p>After the disaster on Starkiller Base, General Hux has to put himself in the front line for the First Order's latest attempts at conquering planets. He's risking both his life and those of his men, but in the midst of the battle, some other things might be at stake too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Revelations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kat2107](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kat2107/gifts).



> I wanted to include as many prompts as I could in this. It was a very nice experience.
> 
> Note: This symbol is meant to separate Hux's memories from the present action: ~*****~. It is used at the beginning of the memories. Single asterisks are used for the present.

General Hux got inside a TIE fighter for the first time in ten years. The consoles and controls were a bit different than he remembered, but it was only logical that things had changed and advanced since he had left the Academy.

As he was turning on the systems and buckling himself up, he thought about the old days, the days of the Empire and about how Darth Vader, as powerful as he was, would get on his own Fighter and go into battle. He also thought Ren would be amused with him thinking about Vader in such an inopportune time and Hux scowled. Being around Ren that much was definitely starting to get to his head.

The machine roared and trembled underneath skilled hands and Hux felt very young all of a sudden and very inexperienced as well. It was like trying to walk after lying down for long; you know how to do it but it somehow feels foreign. Hux adjusts his comlink.

“This is the General speaking. I’m ready for take-off. Adopt squad formation V-72, follow when ready”.

One by one, the rest of the pilots reported back. The squad left the Finaliser smoothly. They were supposed to be the aerial backup and altogether cover, helping the troopers on the ground with intermittent bombing as well as getting rid of the Resistance pilots.

Hux’s squad was the first of 3. According to intelligence, this was supposed to be a fairly easy victory, with a non-significant number of insurgents confirmed. The General was even convinced they could’ve done this without him but Supreme Leader Snoke had begged to differ.. He had been doing so more and more often these days.

Since the incident of Starkiller Base, the First Order had to re-evaluate its priorities, and having men perfectly able for combat just “sitting around” wasn’t seemingly one of them. So Hux had to put in practice many of the things he had learnt before becoming an officer.

It started with ground combat but now he alternated between that and commanding squads of Fighters. Apparently, Leader Snoke had been impressed with the piloting skills reported in the General’s file and wanted to put them to test since he had already “tested Hux’s leadership aptitudes”, in his own words.

Anyone could’ve said he had gotten away easily. He supposed after Starkiller Base’s fate, Snoke could’ve simply dismissed him, deeming him as expendable as anyone and just getting rid of Hux in whatever manner he considered adequate. But instead, the being had decided to play another one of his twisted games, praising Hux for his bravery and loyalty, and for bringing back his apprentice unharmed –or as much as he could in such circumstances–. So there he was now, risking his life once again in order to conquer a planet the old-fashioned way. And if anyone thought that was “getting away easily”, they’d probably never been in active combat before.

Still, Hux thought he couldn’t really complain. He was still able to perform his duty, he had kept his rank and he hadn’t unexpectedly disappeared only to return a month later with fresh scars on his body and newly acquired mental scabs that although less visible were equally painful, just like Ren did.

And yet things felt off. The morale on the ship fluctuated and sometimes it all seemed like a big joke, orchestrated merely to keep them occupied while the grown-ups took care of the important things and did the real job. But then again, Hux couldn’t complain.

The squad entered the planet’s atmosphere in little time. Risban was a dry, red planet, all sharp rocks and dust. Its importance resided in the various rare elements it produced, ideal for putting together electronics such as radio transmitters. It had once been important for the Empire and now the First Order was claiming it.

The troopers had already landed on the most important settlements and Hux’s squad was patrolling around, scanning the perimeter just to be safe when a hail of lasers fell over them, damaging one of Hux’s Fighter’s wings. Alarms bleared as Hux did everything in his power to try and stabilise the Fighter, managing to fire a few rounds on some of those damned X-Wings as well in hopes of taking them down with him.

The General managed to avoid the second attack but one of the men of his squad wasn’t so lucky and promptly crashed. Hux’s Fighter was still very unstable and the next time the X-Wings aimed at him, it was a critical hit.

Impact was imminent and Hux braced himself for emergency landing. He pulled the controls towards himself and tilted them a bit in the direction of the functional wing, yet the collision was violent. Hux felt his teeth knock against each other as the TIE Fighter made contact with the sandy ground, the previously functional wing finally breaking.

It took a while for the dust to settle and for Hux’s head to stop spinning. His back ached as well as his neck and his hands hurt from gripping the controls so tightly. Every single bone in his body throbbed but he was alive; a less skilled pilot wouldn’t have managed to survive.

As soon as he could think with slight clarity, Hux unbuckled himself and prepared to flee the Starfighter, grabbing his blaster on the way out. Outside, the air was as dry as expected and the amount of dust on the wind made it hard to see too far ahead. Hux could hear the very distant roar of battle but couldn’t see anything, so he calculated he’d landed approximately a mile and a half away from it, right behind a dune.

Hux tried his comlink once, receiving nothing but static as feedback. The crash had affected more than his vehicle and his men were probably very worried by now while trying to get rid of plenty of Resistance pilots. He had to find a way to communicate with them and it had to be quick.

The General straightened his jacket and grabbed his blaster firmly as he started making his way up the dune and towards the noise. While he climbed, he couldn’t help but wonder where Ren could be.

 **~** ***** **~**

The first time hadn’t been sweet, but it was only logical since it had been fuelled by months of tension and constant vying for control. It was angry, it was rough and it was up against a wall, but at the time, it was exactly what they needed.

Then it became a door; a door to many following experiences like that became more and more frequent each time. All of them started pretty much the same: one would snap at the other, they would argue, test the limits of their patience and sooner rather than later, they would be on the floor or on the desk or on the bed, biting and tearing at each other ‘til they ended up completely spent, all the rage gone, leaving instead a pleasant sensation of satiety. Then the cycle would start again.

No matter how often it happened, each time it was glorious. It was the only time they would both drop the masks and show themselves as they were, completely exposed in more ways than one. And it drove Hux mad.

It appeared that only when he was immerse in that tight heat, chest against back, sweat covering his whole body and tremors shaking it, he could be himself. It’s true it was rough, but that didn’t make it any less significant; if anything, it made it more substantial, both of them communicating in a language only they understood, revelling on what others would deem depraved and treasuring every single minute of it, every gasp, every bite, every look…

By the time the weapon on Starkiller Base was fired, Hux already knew Ren’s body by heart: every mole, every freckle, every scar. He noticed how his brow was always furrowed unintentionally and how it would only smooth out when he was asleep; he could recognise anywhere that particular stride and that pair of hunched shoulders that seemed to be carrying the weight of the Galaxy; he’d seen that smug smile that appeared every time Ren got his way and how he would grip Hux a tad bit tighter when he was about to come.

They hadn’t bothered putting a name to it; they didn’t need it and in any case, it was easier to pretend none of it was anything more than a way to sort out their differences in a less public manner. And even if they ended up talking about their family or their lives before they’d met or their quirks, well, what harm could it really do? And who was counting, anyway?

*****

What had started as series of gusts of wind was slowly but surely becoming a sandstorm. The wind assaulted Hux’s ears as he slid down the dune to the other side. He had already adjusted his breather over both nose and mouth; it was the only piece of the TIE pilot helmet he could actually stand. The rest just seemed useless and a hindrance, so he had never used it again since his days in the Academy. Now he just wished he had some goggles to put on.

Hux kept on walking cautiously, his body slightly bent at the waist, the blaster’s scope trained forward. He heard a noise on his right so he promptly dropped to the ground, sticking to a big rock right when a bunch of insurgents passed by running.

Hux wasn’t the kind of person to shoot a man on the back but this was a war and his own men were dying out there and he doubted the rebels would have the same considerations with them, so he peeked over the rock and once they were at a reasonable distance, Hux fired. One of the rebels fell and the others kept running, too concentrated on heading to the main battle to notice.

The General held his breath as he fired once again, hitting his mark on the leg, this time drawing unwanted attention. The remaining 4 rebels turned back and started shooting at him, forcing him to hide. Hux dropped to the ground and started shooting from behind the rock, injuring another one of the rebels. However, his success costed him a shot to the shoulder, making him get back to hiding until the men stopped shooting.

Hux’s heart was beating fast but his brain was going even faster. He knew the rebels would be slower now that they had a wounded man and a dead one, but he still had to be very careful. It was now or never.

Breathing heavily as the blood dripped from his shoulder, Hux grabbed his blaster and prepared to shoot. He had one chance to get it right.

The rebels were occupied trying to get their friend up when Hux finally made his move; breathing deeply, scope as steady as possible under the current circumstances, one eye closed for accuracy. Shot. Move to the left. Shot. A man trying to grab his gun. Another breath. Shot. Firing back. Shot.

Slowly, Hux left his spot behind the rock to approach the bodies of his now dead opponents. His right hand was shaking due to the effort of keeping it steady. He was a couple of steps away from the bodies when the man he had just injured took out his blaster pistol and shot twice, hitting the General on the leg and the side before Hux managed to react and end him once and for all.

“Blast!” Hux fell to his knees, grabbing his left side and stretching the wounded leg, struggling to keep himself together. At least his dominant hand was unharmed and the sandstorm had receded, although if the information Intel had provided was correct (and it _usually_ was), it wouldn’t be long until the sand would rise again.

He could see a couple of tents from his spot as well as hear some noises, so he took out the rag he typically carried for cleaning his Fighter and tied it right over the wound on his leg, decided to make his way towards the tents. It wasn’t long before he reached the desired outpost but what he found there, he couldn’t have predicted.

Hux realised that the noises he had heard belonged to a lightsabre and he felt stupid for not realising before. Right in the middle of the tents and scattered belongings, there was Ren, fighting some rebels of his own. The man had no mask on, his hair flowing freely as he twirled and dodged shots.

It was at times like this in which Hux was reminded of how powerful Kylo actually was; he didn’t even need the Force to send people to the ground, let alone actually killing them. All it took was one blow and the next thing they knew, they were lying on the ground with a massive lightsabre burn on their bodies.

Hux was watching from afar as Ren dealt with the last of the rebels when he realised there was a man sneaking up on Kylo, gun ready. A shot rang.

Kylo Ren looked back to see a man fall head first in front of him. Behind him stood General Hux, blaster pointed right at the spot where the man used to be. If Hux hadn’t known better, he’d said he looked impressed.

“Am I always going to be having to save your arse?”

Kylo remained quiet for another minute, chest heaving under his agitated breath before confusion and something akin to relief shone on his face.

“Hux!” he breathed, getting closer. “They said your Fighter crashed. The pilots were worried. They thought you were dead”.

“Yeah, well it should’ve crashed harder”, replied Hux nonchalantly.

Kylo looked at the bloody spots on the General’s uniform. “You’re injured”.

“Look who’s talking”, said Hux with a nod towards the other man’s left side. “You seem to favour side wounds”.

Ren half-smirked. They both stared at each other trying to come up with something adequate to say but didn’t seem to find the words until Kylo straightened himself.

“Listen, I-”

“Maybe later”, interrupted Hux. “Right now, we should be getting down to the main battlefield. I’m sure we’re required there”.

Kylo responded with a nod and started walking on the frontline’s direction. Hux followed, grimacing because of his leg only when Ren had turned his back on him.

“You know I can fix that”, said Ren without looking back, unmistakeable amusement in his voice.

“Just shut up, Kylo”.

 **~** ***** **~**

At first, he didn’t really feel much. His body was in fight or flight mode, so all his emotions were numb. That was why, when he was given the order to retrieve Kylo Ren, he didn’t even protest; there was a task at hand to perform & he’d do it with as much efficiency as usual.

Hux was grateful for the tracker on Ren’s belt. He found the knight lying on the snow with a fresh wound on his face, blood staining the ground underneath him. He didn’t think twice when he helped the taller man up, almost dragging him towards the shuttle; Ren was practically leaning all of his weight on the General.

Hux deposited him at the shuttle’s Emergency Med bay and was about to rush out when he felt a tug on his sleeve, followed by a cold hand being wrapped around his wrist. The General froze, considering the situation.

The implosion of Starkiller Base had properly started and although the shuttle was already at a safe distance from it, the former superweapon was still visible through the transparisteel. The planet cracked and burned and suddenly, realisation dawned on Hux; it seemed like the universe was laughing in his face. He felt the numbness give way to rage and shame and he pulled his hand away from Ren’s grasp.

“Don’t fucking touch me”, he hissed. Kylo wasn’t the only one with the right to get angry.

Back on the Finaliser, Hux sorted out everything that needed to be sorted and went down to his quarters. The minute the door was closed, he collapsed on a chair. The stress of the whole day was finally taking its toll on him.

He took off his gloves, remembering Ren’s touch and the anger resurfaced. Sooner rather than later, he had pushed everything on his desk to the floor. Hux screamed and kicked, knocking down furniture until there was nothing else to charge against. He fell asleep in the middle of that mess, not minding the disaster for once.

At the next day, the General was back to his usual controlled self. He didn’t go to see Ren but he did ask for a report on his state; he wasn’t necessarily angry at him anymore, but his outburst seemed childish to him at that point and he didn’t really know what to say to Ren, so he opted for focusing on his various duties.

A week passed and Hux kept on asking for a daily report on Ren’s health, each day feeling more and more reticent to see him, damning his anxiety and damning the man causing most of it.

On the eighth day, Hux didn’t ask for the usual report, deciding it was time to pay the knight a visit when he was confronted with the fact that Kylo Ren wasn’t on the Finaliser. Actually, he had taken his ship and vanished.

“And why hasn’t anyone consulted me on this? Who even gave permission for take-off? I am _still_ the General on this ship!” he had exploded and for the first time in a while, Hux saw fear in the eyes of his officers. He’d always preferred respect.

“He…he didn’t ask for permission, General. He just took off. And with him being so high on the chain of command…”

“When did this happen?”

The officer looked at the ground. Hux raised a questioning brow.

“At about 0500 hours, Sir”.

“And why didn’t you wake me?”

“Well, there wasn’t much to be done about it without hurting Master Ren and we had orders to keep him safe and you’ve been working so much, Sir-“

“I’ll decide when it’s enough! In the meantime, I will not have my authority questioned!” he spat, dismissing the officer with a wave of the hand. 

Apparently, Ren had once again defied his authority without a second thought and now he’d have to answer for another of Kylo’s impulsive decisions. But approximately around 1500 hours ship-time, Hux received a message from Supreme Leader Snoke, who thanked him for retrieving Kylo and sending the knight over to him. So that solved the “mystery”.

A month later, Hux was in his quarters, revising his datapad when there was a knock on the door. He beckoned the person in, not lifting his gaze from the pad at all. The door clicked and someone entered the room without a word, not even saluting him.

Hux then looked up to find Kylo Ren standing in the middle of the room, unmasked. His boyish face was crossed by a pink scar where the fresh wound Hux remembered used to be. The General’s face gave nothing away, not even when his heartrate escalated significantly. He was starting to feel very uneasy under Ren’s stare.

“Well, look who’s back”, he started, standing up. “How was Jedi-camp-gone-wrong?”

Ren kept on staring at him with his usual pouty face and Hux could’ve sworn his eyes looked watery. 30 more seconds had to pass before the knight spoke.

“Fine”

“I’m glad you had fun. Some of us were working instead”.

Hux thought he had many reasons to be snarky but in all honesty, an entire month without Kylo Ren’s antics would take its toll on almost anyone; hell, Hux could almost admit he had somewhat missed Ren. Still, there was something akin to hurt inside of him and he didn’t even know why. He just knew he had to act on it because neither Ren nor he deserved better.

Kylo tilted his head and sighed, sitting on one of Hux’s chairs. The General pursed his lips and grabbed the back of another chair, his knuckles turning white due to the pressure. He kept his eyes fixed on Ren.

“What did you expect?”

The question held thousands of meanings and Ren couldn’t help but sigh once again.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what I expected”.

Hux frowned but let go of the chair, coming to stand before Ren. The knight stood up as well, neither breaking eye contact.

The General took off Kylo’s cloak and started getting rid of the upper robes as well; he didn’t know what to expect, either. Underneath the dark clothes, Ren’s skin was revealed, covered in a myriad of scars, both big and small. All of them looked freshly made, as if they hadn’t been given a moment to heal properly.

 _This is ridiculous_ , Hux thought _. This isn_ _’_ _t training; it_ _’_ _s no discipline or control. These are the doings of a madman_. He thought all of it but said none. Ren had probably heard it anyway.

“This is Force training?” he asked instead, letting the weight of the meaning behind those words linger between them.

“Just a part of it”.

And that was all Hux needed to know to dive back in, letting his lips find Ren’s in the dim light of his bedchamber. He really didn’t like admitting it, but he knew the knight’s body by heart and he took it as a personal offence that his favourite surfaces had assumed a completely new layout that he now had to relearn.

The sex wasn’t gentle but it was slower than usual and there was definitely something different in the atmosphere. Hux was taking his time to rediscover Kylo’s body and the knight didn’t seem to be able to take his eyes off of him, as if the General could vanish any moment. Only then could Hux understand that he wasn’t the only one affected by the time spent apart.

Hux entered Kylo, starting a punishing pace. All the anger had been drained out of his body after seeing Ren’s scars, leaving him only with a mild ache. The knight sighed underneath him, trailing his hands down Hux’s chest and back, responding to every touch and whisper as if his life depended on it.

It wasn’t long before Kylo was coming between them, his nails digging in Hux’s back, pulling him closer. When Hux’s own orgasm washed over him, he could hardly stay upright. He buried his face in the younger man’s neck and let himself go.

That night, Kylo stayed. They were lying side by side, playing with each other’s hands and just enjoying the other’s heat and presence. Thoughts and hypotheses of what Ren might’ve gone through started racing inside Hux’s mind until the knight kneed him.

“Stop making so much noise”

“I’m not-” Hux started but Kylo placed a hand over his mouth.

“Your head”, he explained and inched closer to the General, closing his eyes.

Hux started stroking his hair, breathing Kylo’s characteristic scent in.

 “Do I want to know what happened?”

Ren was almost asleep, but he perceptibly tensed at Hux’s words.

“Probably not”, he said and Hux had to make a conscious effort not to start hypothesising again.

He couldn’t understand why he suddenly felt so…protective. Perhaps it was the respect he had built for Kylo, who was undoubtedly a very capable warrior, and he hated seeing someone else ignoring such potential. Or maybe it was because the younger man had actually grown on him. In any case, Hux realised there was so much more he had missed about Kylo besides from the sex. And Hux found he was perfectly okay with that.

*****

The main fight was big but not as much as some of the others they had recently been involved in. Captain Phasma had managed to maintain the lead, even when the available troopers were less than needed for such scale.

By the time Ren and Hux stepped in, most of the blasters had already been replaced by hand-to-hand combat, which was more than useful for Ren, who promptly turned his lightsabre on. Hux, as the man of honour he was, set his blaster aside and took out a pair of vibroblades just when a couple of rebels spotted him.

A knife rushed towards the General’s chest, which he opportunely diverted with one of the blades, sinking the other in the rebel’s stomach. The other managed to get close enough to graze Hux’s arm with his own weapon. The redhead hissed and turned around, swinging both his blades but the man was managing to elude all of his attacks. Hux aimed the blade at the man’s chest and while he was distracted deflecting it, he kicked him on the knee, pushing the rebel to the ground and pinning him to it with the blade.

It all became a blur after that first attack. If Hux’s uniform’s stripes weren’t enough to advertise his identity, his distinctive hair definitely gave him away, and Intel had intercepted enough Resistance communications to know the rebels had all been alerted about the “ruthless redheaded General”. It amused Ren but lacked the same effect for Hux, who was slightly dreading his position since the rebels seemed to be quite focused on him, to the point that he asked himself if they’d ever stop coming.

And then, before he could even realise it, he was fighting right beside Ren. Hux noticed the knight as he sliced another man in half; his fighting style was elegant, almost choreographed but it had an indescribable intensity to it. Wielding such lightsabre couldn’t have been easy, yet Kylo only seemed a little out of breath.

Hux was getting rid of a particularly bothersome opponent when his eyes locked with Kylo’s. TIE Fighters and X-Wings fought their own battle above their heads, producing deafening noises when suddenly, it all _clicked_. In an unspoken agreement, both Kylo and Hux nodded before pressing themselves against each other, back to back.

Hux was sweating with the effort of fighting in almost perfect synchrony with Ren, diverting stray blaster shots and repelling attacks so Kylo could finish the job with that unpredictable blade of his. So there they were, the Knight and the General, the Apprentice and the Academy boy, the passionate and the cold-headed, two sides of an equally dangerous and magnificent coin. Maybe in some other world, it could’ve been beautiful.

A TIE Fighter passed them by, flying lower to the ground and soon, Ren’s comm was buzzing with good news; the objective had been taken. The fight could end. Kylo glanced at Hux, chest heaving, hair plastered to his forehead with sweat, realisation in his eyes. And Hux thought it was unquestionably beautiful.

*****

The air reeked of blood and fire. Hux stood before one of the troopers, who handed him his coat as he gave him the preliminary report of the battle. The General thanked and dismissed him and draped the coat over his shoulders. He suddenly felt really cold; apparently, the blood loss was starting to affect him. Still, he couldn’t leave without his customary walk through the battlefield.

Behind him, Captain Phasma was withdrawing the remaining troops and sending them back to their respective AALs. Meanwhile, Ren was doing his own assessment of the combat zone.

Hux started walking through the dead bodies and abandoned guns. He caught a glimpse of a dying woman; she had a very injured leg and it wouldn’t be long until she finally bled out. Things like that always left Hux thinking.

Brendol Hux Senior had been a man of the old regime, one who thought anything could be conquered. Brendol Hux Jr disagreed. He believed in the power of propaganda and good management. He was convinced the New Republic was digging its own grave and needed little to no help to bring itself down. After all, people weren’t interested in abstract concepts as republicanism or democracy or constitutionalism. They were interested in eating 3 meals a day and being able to work and send their kids to school. And none of it was something he had imagined; Hux had s _een_ it.

The Resistance was very optimistic if they thought Starkiller Base was the only thing they had to worry about. It had been one of the Order’s greatest creations but definitely not the only one; they were determined to fight back as much as necessary. Yet, Hux had been part of that fraction which wanted to avoid another war as much as possible, because what was the use of ruling a devastated world? And these battlefields did nothing but strengthen such belief. He couldn’t wait to finally bring some order to that world.

After the quick walk, Hux was ready to get on his ship; his head ached and both walking and thinking straight were starting to become a luxury. He could already see Ren when a blaster shot cracked in the stillness of the aftermath. Hux hadn’t even known from which direction it had come; there was no time to react, no warning at all. No famous last words.

Hux felt the heat on his right temple but there was no pain; it was as if here standing really close to a fireplace. He slowly opened his eyes to find the blaster shot aimed at him mere centimetres away from his face. In front of him was Ren, extending a hand in the General’s direction as he held an immobilised man with the other.

Hux blinked, suddenly finding it hard to swallow past the knot in his throat. Ren smirked from the other side as he drew the suspended blast away from Hux and slowly into the rebel’s chest, piercing him. The man screamed and squirmed for a few minutes before his body went completely rigid. Then Ren stopped using the Force to keep him upright and the lifeless body dropped to the ground.

“ _Am I always going to be having to save your arse?_ _”_ asked Kylo when Hux reached his side, stressing every syllable in a mock imitation of the General’s accent. The redhead raised a brow in annoyance but a smile was playing at his lips. He had to admit that having Kylo Ren kill for him in such a manner was…stimulating.

They made their way towards Ren’s shuttle with Hux leading the way. Most of the AALs had already taken off and Hux’s headache was getting overwhelming. The adrenaline that had kept him going through the battle had abandoned his body and Hux’s vision was starting to blur and why did the ground feel so irregular under his feet?

Hux took a bad step, falling to his knees. He was freezing and dizzy, but maybe if he took a few minutes to clear his head and a deep breath, he could manage the last steps to get to the ship. He heard Kylo’s quick steps catching up with him; he also heard the shuffling of his robes as he crouched in front of him. A pair of cold hands cradled Hux’s face. He cracked one eye open and found Kylo staring at him, concern written on his face.

“You’ve lost a lot of blood”, pointed Kylo out.

Hux sniffed, smiling. “Yeah, well, you’ve given me worse”.

Kylo smiled back, warmly. Hux took the deep breath he had promised himself and tried to stand up only to fall back right away. Ren caught him with a low chuckle. Hux let himself lean forward, pressing his forehead against Kylo’s and closing his eyes, not caring anymore. The Knight placed one of his hands on Hux’s hip, resting the other on his shoulder and slowly tracing its outline, traveling up to the General’s face.

Hux leant into the touch, breathing Ren’s scent in; suddenly, the battle seemed far away. All the memories that had assaulted Hux throughout the day dissipated, along with the emotions they provoked, leaving only the present in the form of a cold hand on his cheek and the touch of a forehead. He couldn’t possibly imagine what his father would think of him now, but through the haze in his mind, he recognised he was a conqueror in more than one way, and there was one conquest that pleased him more than any other.

It didn’t matter how many planets he had to raid as long as he could come back to this. In the end, what’s a King without a Knight?

 


End file.
